JIM MAKES A SMART MOVE

JIM CROWLEY will continue his partnership with Eminent in the Investec Derby at Epsom on Saturday week.

The champion jockey was on board the Martyn Meade-trained colt for his victory in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket in April, and when Eminent finished sixth in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile 16 days ago.

“He’s got a great strike-rate round there, he knows the horse and I’m really happy that he rides him again,” the Newmarket trainer said yesterday.

Crowley, whose boss Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum will not be represented in the premier Classic, will be at Epsom on Tuesday morning to give Frankel’s son Eminent, who is as short as 8-1 in the ante-post Derby lists, his first sight of the track’s unique layout.

“We needed pace in the early stages of the race, and we didn’t have that,” added Meade. “The horse was not able to use his stride, and that’s his ace card.

“Hopefully, he’ll be able to do that over the longer distance, and the good thing is he didn’t have a hard race.”

Dubai Thunder, a 10-length debut winner at Newbury on Friday, is “on the team sheet” for the Derby, Godolphin CEO John Ferguson said yesterday.